Reasonably powerful with all the major tools you need for compositing videos. It has optimised versions for 64 bit chipsets, and was developed in Python - an open source programming language used in apps like Bittorrent and Blender.

LiVES began in 2002 as the Linux Video Editing System. Since it now runs on more operating systems: LiVES is a Video Editing System. It is designed to be simple to use, yet powerful. It is small in size, yet it has many advanced features.

LiVES is a Free, Open Source video editor *and* a VJ tool.

I use Avid NLE systems daily as I'm a video-editor and having used it for a couple years now, I must say there are a couple drawbacks. If you want to use Avid-systems for compositing and FX related magic, I strongly recommend using anything BUT Avid. Compositing more than 3 videolayers with effects applied in Avid NLE's can be a real braincruncher to get just what you want. The worst part is that effects are applied to all layers that lay beneath the layer on which you apply the effect.

Seemed a rather obvious gap in that no one had reviewed Apple's editing applications so I'll fill it in with a quick overview.
Final Cut Pro was Apple's answer to Adobe Premiere and Avid after Avid ported their flagship editing programs to Windows. Initially Final Cut Pro had a very hard time competing with the entrenched user base of Premiere and Avid editors but since version 3.0 and Mac OS X support they have been slowly winning over a growing number of both amateur and professional editors.

Motion is Apple's new compositing and motion graphics design package, squarely aimed at the Broadcast design market but it's also a very useful tool for VJ's to make animated titles or motion graphics style backgrounds.

Recently (4 days ago...) got myself VEGAS 6 and am working through it now. Looks and feels very sweet and does seem to have shorter render times compared to VV5.
Here's an article on some of the best new features in this software - written by a known Vegas Guru.... he's much better placed than I to give an in depth analysis

http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=31944

One of the features that I love and may give me more avenues to explore in the way I perform is the ability to select a Windows Secondary Display Monitor.

Vegas Video 5 is quite a nice upgrade from VV4. The integration of Audio and Video features is seemless. If you know the BPM of your audio track, just set the project BPM to match and set your ruler to measures and beats and everything will just snap into place on the timeline. VV5 now supports acid looping properties, so Acid loops will automatically fit the BPM of your project. Another new feature that I really like is the ability to change pitch of audio loops using the +' and '-' keys, the pitch offset is displayed in the event itself.

Wax is a free, nice little video editing and FX software. It handle multiple tracks of video and audio.
Here is a list of the features:

1. Loads 3DS objects
2. Full 3D space and lighting
3. Video morphing via WinMorph
4. Can use all virtualDub plugins
5. Can use DirectX plugins
6. Can be used as a plugin within Vegas Video 4.0

Vegas 4 is a nice non-linear video editor for the Windows platform. It has a very flexible and configurable user interface. Panels can be broken off to separate windows or nested in the lower part of the window. Vegas4 (as with the entire vegas series) displays all edits and effects in real time, though the actual framerate depends on your processor. After using Vegas 4 in a commercial environemnt, I can tell you that it is a great tool for getting the job done right and on time.

Avid's often a byword in the editing community¦ some of this is deserved, other parts of it are not. While easily the most expensive option for editing, Avid has the quickest rendering I have seen in any video editing system, as well as the most versatile filter selection I have come across.
Avid was the first non-linear editor for a computer ever, and has largely dominated the market for a decade in this respect, only now losing chips to Final Cut Pro, Media 100, and Premiere/AfterEffects.

Avid's Interface: